While the first commercial cable station was established in Valentia in 1866 competition soon arrived in the form of a British company (Direct United States Cable Company). In 1874 the company established a cable station in Ballinskelligs. Soon after however the Anglo-American Cable Company took a majority shareholding in the British company and a connecting cable was laid from the Ballinskelligs station to the Valentia cable station. Anglo-American subsequently leased the line to the telecommunications company Western Union who continued the lease up until 1920. The business was then sold to the British Post Office. The British Post office diverted the European end of the cable to Cornwall in 1923 and the Ballinskelligs cable station was closed. The Ballinskelligs station had the shortest life span of the three cable stations that were built on the Iveragh Peninsula operating from 1874 to 1922.

The Cable station buildings became government property soon after their closure and in the 1930's and 40's were used as a summer college for Irish language students. They later fell into disrepair and most have now been demolished.